Menopause Symptoms Linked to Chronic Pain in Midlife

The analysis found that the odds of chronic pain and multiple pain diagnoses were increased for women with menopause symptoms

HealthDay News — Menopause symptoms are associated with chronic pain among midlife female veterans, according to a study published online March 4 in Menopause.

Carolyn J. Gibson, PhD, MPH, from the San Francisco VA Health Care System, and colleagues used national medical and pharmacy records for 200,901 female veterans aged 45 to 64 years with at least one Veterans Affairs encounter to examine the correlations between menopause symptoms and chronic pain outcomes.

The researchers found that 26.0% of the midlife female veterans had menopause symptoms; 52% had chronic pain and 22% had two or more distinct chronic pain diagnoses. In multivariable analyses, the odds of chronic pain and multiple pain diagnoses were increased for women with menopause symptoms (odds ratios, 1.89 and 1.86, respectively).

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“Although a causal explanation cannot be established from these data, these findings add to a limited literature suggesting a relationship between menopause and chronic pain among women in midlife,” the authors write. “These findings raise important questions about the relationships between menopause symptoms and chronic pain among women in midlife.”